ENG 259 - The Chomskian Revolution in Linguistics Summary on Syntax © BTexact Technologies 2001

Key Points Highlighted Syntax Types of Grammar American structuralism and its brief history IC Analysis Syntactic Categories Lexical Categories Chomsky and UG © BTexact Technologies 2001

Syntax Syntax: the study of the structure of sentences and the grammatical rules governing the way words are combined to form sentences. © BTexact Technologies 2001

Types of Grammar Prescriptive Grammar Descriptive Grammar Universal Grammar © BTexact Technologies 2001

Prescriptive Grammar Traditional Grammar and the prescriptive approach: Grammar as ‘linguistic etiquette’, i.e. the identification of the best/proper structures to be used; © BTexact Technologies 2001

Descriptive Grammatical Rules Descriptive rules are more general and more basic than prescriptive rules in the sense that all sentences of a language are formed in accordance with them, not just the subset of sentences that count as correct or socially acceptable. © BTexact Technologies 2001

Prescriptive Rules Grammar is a collection of rules concerning what counts as socially acceptable and unacceptable language use. These rules in question primarily concern the proper composition of sentences in written language. Don’t start a sentence with a conjunction Don’t end a sentence with a preposition Don’t use sentence fragments Don’t use dangling participles Don’t use a plural pronoun to refer back to a singular noun; etc. e.g. Over there is the guy who I went to the party with © BTexact Technologies 2001

Descriptive Grammar Rules of descriptive grammar have the status of scientific observations, and they are intended as insightful generalizations about the way that human language is used in fact, rather than about how it ought to be used. Articles precede the nouns they belong to Relative clauses follow the noun that they modify Prepositions precede their objects © BTexact Technologies 2001

Grammatical sentences An ungrammatical sentence is conventionally prefixed with an asterisk (*) while the grammatical sentences are usually not specifically marked. ( ) Over there is guy the who I went to party the with ( )Over there is the man I went to the party with guy ( )Over there is the guy who I went to the party with ( )Over there is the guy with whom I went to the party © BTexact Technologies 2001

Prescriptive vs. Descriptive Rules of etiquette or laws of society Rules about correct or socially accepted sentences Rules explicitly taught Based on the more favored variants …The verb SHOULD agree in number with the logical subject Rules of scientific observations Rules about all sentences of a language Rules followed effortlessly and consistently Document all variants without discrimination …the verb CAN agree in number with EITHER the expletive subject OR with the logical subject There’s some boxes left on the porch There are some boxes left on the porch © BTexact Technologies 2001

Universal Grammar Grammar as a form of internal linguistic knowledge that operates in the appropriate production and comprehension of natural languages. © BTexact Technologies 2001

Goals of a theory of grammar Universality: a theory of grammar should provide us with the tools needed to describle the grammar of any natural language adequately. Descriptive adequacy: a grammar of a given language has descriptive adequacy if it explains observed language data and the intuitions of native speakers about the grammaticality of sentences of a language Explanatory adequacy: a theory of grammar has explanatory adequacy if it explains how native speakers of a language can arrive at the knowledge of that language. Learnability: an adequate linguistic theory must provide adequate grammars which are learnable by young children in a relatively short period of time. i.e., it must account for the uniformity and rapidity of language acquisition, given the poverty of stimulus. © BTexact Technologies 2001

American Structuralism A brief history How is descriptive linguistics done? IC Analysis © BTexact Technologies 2001

American Structuralism: A brief history Descriptive linguistics is the study and analysis of spoken language. The techniques of descriptive linguistics were devised by German American anthropologist Franz Boas and American linguist and anthropologist Edward Sapir in the early 1900s to record and analyze Native American languages. Franz Boas: Handbook of American Indian Languages (1911 He saw grammar as a description of how human speech in a language is organized. A descriptive grammar should describe the relationships of speech elements in words and sentences. Leonard Bloomfield, best known for his commitment to linguistics as an independent science and his insistence on using scientific procedures. His major work, Language (1933) is regarded as the classic text of structural linguistics, also called structuralism. Norm Chomsky had studied structural linguistics, was seeking a way to analyze the syntax of English in a structural grammar. This effort led him to see grammar as a theory of language structure rather than a description of actual sentences. © BTexact Technologies 2001

How is descriptive linguistics done? A corpus of data Segmentation Identification of the phonemes Which phonemes can combine to form morphemes How morphemes combine into phrases and sentences. © BTexact Technologies 2001

IC analysis The basic concern of the descriptive approach is to investigate the distribution of forms in a language. The method used is one of substitution. Constituent: a grammatical unit which is part of a larger grammatical unit -- e.g., sentence = noun phrase + verb phrase; noun phrase = determiner + noun; "subject", ”verb", "determiner" and "noun" etc. are constituents IC analysis is designed to show how small constituents in a sentence combine to form larger constituents. My || parents | bought ||| two tickets || at ||| Christmas. © BTexact Technologies 2001

More exercises on IC analysis Colorless green ideas sleep furiously John found a fly in the soup the young king who gave up his throne the man from the city in the little country from Western Europe © BTexact Technologies 2001

Labelled Tree Diagram and Bracketing Three aspects of a speaker’s syntactic knowledge are explicitly represented in tree diagrams: The linear order of the words in the sentence The groupings of words into syntactic categories The hierarchical structure of the syntactic categories © BTexact Technologies 2001

Syntactic categories A family of expressions that can substitute for one another without loss of grammaticality is called a syntactic category. The cat chases the mouse. The dog chases the mouse The policeman chases the mouse. The mother mouse chases the mouse. If words and phrases could not be assigned to a small group of categories, it would be very hard to learn or use a language. © BTexact Technologies 2001

Syntax: Lexical Categories every word is a member of a category. a word’s category type determines the kind of phrase it can form a phrase is a word or string of words that functions as a unit in a sentence, built around a head Every language has specific phrase structure rules determining how phrases can be combined to form sentences © BTexact Technologies 2001

Syntax: Lexical Categories Noun (N): real, imaginary, abstract things In English, if nouns refer to countable things, the regular plural is made by suffixing -s/-es In English they can be paired with articles and demonstratives EX: the book, this book, that book, etc. In English they can be modified with descriptive words (adjectives) © BTexact Technologies 2001

Noun Phrases (NP) Evidence that NPs are syntactic units comes from the fact they can often be replaced by a single word such as the pronoun they or it The students read the controversial book. The students read it. *The students read the controversial it. © BTexact Technologies 2001

Syntax: Lexical Categories Verb (V): refer to states of affairs and events express time, in most languages take a specific forms corresponding to the time of the event EX English: walk expresses past by adding -ed express manner (aspect) of event, in many languages take a specific form corresponding to the completedness of event. EX English: walk expresses ongoing action by adding -ing © BTexact Technologies 2001

Verbal Phrase (VP) Evidence that VPs are syntactic units comes from the fact they can often be replaced by the word(s) did (it). The catcher dropped the ball, and the pitcher did (it) too. © BTexact Technologies 2001

Syntax: Lexical Categories Preposisions (P): Express roles Instrument EX Eng: with, He cut the bread with the knife Possessor EX Eng: of, Monday is the best day of the week. Spatial, directional and Temporal relations EX English: The food was on the table before it fell to the floor. © BTexact Technologies 2001

Prepositional Phrase The substitution test confirms that PP is a unit since it can be replaced by a single word like there. The team practiced in the park, and Lisa practised there, too. *The team practiced in the park, and Lisa practised there the park, too. © BTexact Technologies 2001

Syntax: Lexical Categories Adjectjective (A): describe things that nouns refer to In English can be used in a sentence with the verb be: EX English: He is happy. They should be ripe. In English can be modified with degree adverbs: EX English: He is very happy. They should be completely ripe. In English have comparative form by adding -er: EX English: happi-er rip-er © BTexact Technologies 2001

Adjectival Phrases (AP) An adjectival phrase can be replaced by the word so. Linda is very intelligent, and Mark appears so too. * Linda is very intelligent, and Mark appears very so too. © BTexact Technologies 2001

Syntax: Lexical Categories Adverbs (Adv): Manner of action Ex Eng: quickly, He ran quickly. Attitude of speaker EX Eng: unfortunately, Unfortunately,he cut the bread. Temporal frequency EX Eng: soon, They’ll be here soon. Can be modified by “very” in English © BTexact Technologies 2001

Syntax definitions, cont. Determiner: a closed set of morphemes that “specify” nouns, indicating definiteness or indefiniteness. Includes articles plus other morphemes (a, an, the those, these, many,most, some) Degree word: very, completely (type of adverb) © BTexact Technologies 2001

Lexical categories Major Lexical categories Examples Noun (N) Pierre, butterfly Verb (V) Arrive, discuss Adjective (A) Good, tall Preposition (P) To, in, near Other Lexical categories Examples Determiner (Det) The, this, these Auxiliary (Aux) Will, can, may Pronoun (Pro) He, she, her, his Adverb (Adv) Yesterday, silently Conjunction (Con) And, or © BTexact Technologies 2001

Syntax definitions, cont. Head (of a phrase): The constituent fundamental to the phrase, from which the phrase derives its name. (e.g. a noun phrase is “headed” by a noun). Each phrase (NP, VP, etc) is the projection of the head. NP is headed by N VP is headed by V, etc. Complement: The other constituents contained in the phrase that complete its meaning is called complements. © BTexact Technologies 2001

General Phrase Structure (XP) Key Points Highlighted © BTexact Technologies 2001

More exercises: tree-diagram or bracket the following the structures The teacher put the answers on the board He ran towards the red post Colorless green ideas sleep furiously John found a fly in the soup the young king who gave up his throne the man from the city in the little country from Western Europe © BTexact Technologies 2001

Chomsky and UG Chomskyan revolution Universal Grammar (UG) A historical review of UG From PS rules to X-bar theory Parameters and Cross-linguistic Variation From Transformation to Movement UG and language acquisition © BTexact Technologies 2001

Chomskyan revolution Chomsky, has attracted worldwide attention with his ground-breaking research into the nature of human language and communication. has become the center of a debate that transcends formal linguistics to embrace psychology, philosophy, and even genetics. his "formulation of 'transformational grammar' has been acclaimed as one of the major achievements of the century. his work has been compared to the unraveling of the genetic code of the DNA molecule." his discoveries have had an impact "on everything from the way children are taught foreign languages to what it means when we say that we are human." is also an impassioned critic of American foreign policy, especially as it affects ordinary citizens of Third World nations. © BTexact Technologies 2001

Central Claims Main features of TG Grammar Chomsky’s TG Grammar differs from the structural grammar in a number of ways: (1) rationalism; (2) innateness; (3) deductive methodology; (4) formalization; (5) emphasis on linguistic competence; (6) strong generative powers; (7) emphasis on linguistic universals. © BTexact Technologies 2001

Universal Grammar Knowledge of Language Universal Grammar Lexicon -Grammar Knowledge of words -Knowledge of rules Learned -Innate Language specific -Language Universal Universal Grammar The grammar which characterizes the innate predisposition to learn language. UG is a set of rules that all human possess by virtue of having certain common genetic features which sitinguish them from other species. © BTexact Technologies 2001

A historical review of UG Standard theory Extended Standard Theory Rule-based 80s Government and Binding Theory Principle and Parameter Theory (PPT) Principle-guided 90s Minimalism Program Economy-driven © BTexact Technologies 2001

Generative-Tranformational Grammar TG developed in the 1950s in the context of “cognitive revolution”, which marked a shift of focus from a concern with human behaviour to the mental processes underlying human behaviour. © BTexact Technologies 2001

Deep Structure and Surface Structure © BTexact Technologies 2001

Principle and Parameter Theory knowledge of language comprises a lexicon, together with a set of innate principles (that means, X-bar Theory, Binding Theory and Case Theory, etc.) and set parameters.  Principle and Parameter (P&P) approach has proved fruitful for constraining the core of innate grammatical knowledge (Pprinciples) defining the differences found between individual languages (parameters) describing diachronic change (parameter resetting) and the investigation of first and second language acquisition (parameter setting and resetting). . © BTexact Technologies 2001

From transformation rules to Movement Transformation rules: part of TG grammar, functions to convert a surface structure to deep structure I can solve this problem. This problem, I can solve. (Move) The dog chases the mouse. The mouse is chased by the dot (Move and Insert) Move alpha: Move any category anywhere. © BTexact Technologies 2001

Movement Head movement Wh- movement The movement of a word from the head position of one phrase to the head position of another phrase The president was lying Was the president – lying? Wh- movement The movement of an operator expression into the specifier position within CP You can speak what languages What languages can you speak __? © BTexact Technologies 2001

Movement The voters would choose who Who would the voters __ choose __ © BTexact Technologies 2001

Movements are structurally dependent The man who kicked him escaped the scene. Did the man who kicked him __ escape the scene? * Did the man who ___ kick him escaped the scene? © BTexact Technologies 2001

Movement are constrained The senator knew the voters would choose who The senator knew who the voters would choose__ *The senator knew who would the voters choose__ The man might wonder the detectives found whose shoes at which house *Whose shoes might the man wonder which house the detectives found__ at__? *Which house might the man wonder whose shoe the detectives found __at__ ? NP and an embedded S containing a wh-phrase appear to create islands. © BTexact Technologies 2001

UG and Language Acquisition Logical Problem: is our knowledge of grammar given, or learned? Nature vs. nurture Learning the grammar = setting the parameters. Our competence in syntax is given in part by UG, in part by parameters defined by UG. The parameters are set in the process of language acquisition on the basis of exposure to a particular language switchbox Traffic rules © BTexact Technologies 2001

Parameters [value] [+] Language A Principle [-] [value] Language B © BTexact Technologies 2001

The notion of modularity Central Processes Language module UG Grammar Memory Belief Pragmatics Real-word Knowledge Problem-solving abilities Language Parser Langauge Learning principles Perceptual module vision, hearing, etc. © BTexact Technologies 2001

UG and L2 acquisition © BTexact Technologies 2001